For the second time in a row, Kerala has topped the State Food Safety Index (SFSI), an annual report evaluating the food safety performance of Indian states and union territories. The SFSI 2024 was released on Friday, at the Second Edition of Global Food Regulators Summit 2024 hosted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). It was last year that Kerala topped the SFSI for the first time. The SFSI has been an annual feature since 2019.

In 2022, Kerala had secured the second position.  The FSSAI has developed State Food Safety Index to measure the performance of states on various parameters of Food Safety.  This index is based on performance of states and union territories on five significant parameters: Human Resources and Institutional Data, Compliance, Food Testing – Infrastructure and Surveillance, Training & Capacity Building and Consumer Empowerment. "The Index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model that provides an objective framework for evaluating food safety across all States/UTs," the FSSAI website says.

Behind Kerala are Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, and Gujarat in second third and fourth positions. In 2022, when Kerala was second, Gujarat had topped the index. Kerala's Food Safety Commissioner Afsana Parveen received the trophy and citation from Union Health Minister J P Nadda at the Second Edition of Global Food Regulators Summit 2024 on Friday, September 20. 

Nagaland was given special mention as a northeastern state. The SFSI 2024 said that the hilly state showed "overall progress in improving the food safety ecosystem compared to the previous year".

Kerala's health minister Veena George said that the win was the result of Kerala's exceptional performance across 40-odd food safety enforcement variables. Some are: food safety inspections, sample collection, sample testing, prosecution cases, the number of National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibrating Laboratories (NABL)-accredited labs, the quality of testing in these labs, the use of mobile testing labs, and trainings given to employees and food entrepreneurs.  

George said that Kerala had initiated a series of food safety drives like Operation Shawarma, Operation Matsya, Operation Jaggery and Operation Holiday. From this year on, all these operations have been coordinated under Operation Life.